lock, and flying outside, tripping down the stairs, but catching herself before she fell. Haddie. Haddie. I’m coming.
Scarlett’s breath came in sharp pants as she ran from the back of the church to the parking lot, glancing behind her every few steps, half-expecting that shriveled monstrous thing to come rushing at her like a flying ghoul. She glanced at the church door, but no, she could trust no one here. I should have known. I should have known.
Her car key was in her pocket. Thank the Lord above. She pulled it out, her hands shaking as she put it in the ignition, and screeched out of the lot.
She didn’t remember much of the drive, only that she prayed the whole way there. When she burst through the front door of Lilith House, she almost ran smack dab into Mason. His eyes went wider than they’d been, the look on his face turning her blood to ice in her veins.
His gaze moved from her foot to her bloody clothes to her face. “Oh my God, Scarlett. What—"
“Haddie!” she screamed.
“Scarlett!” Mason said. “It took them.”
She whirled toward him, her heart hammering. “Who? Who took them?”
He grabbed his head. “I don’t know what it was. My crew had just left. I thought it was one of them coming back for something.” He shook his head, his expression haunted. “I only saw its shadow. It took Millie and Haddie. It had horns. Jesus, it had horns. But it was walking.” He shook his head as though trying to wake from a bad dream.
Terror zigzagged down Scarlett’s back. “When?”
“Just now. Right before you got here. I tried to call Cam, but he’s not answering. I don’t know whether to call the sheriff.”
“Don’t call the sheriff. Call the state police. Tell them there’s been a kidnapping. And keep trying Cam. I need you to stay here and keep calling Cam. As soon as you get hold of him, tell him where I am. Please, Mason, I need you to do that. I’m going after them.”
Mason grabbed her as she began to turn. “No, Scarlett, you don’t know what that thing is! And you’re hurt—”
“I’m okay. It has my girl, Mason.”
Mason let go of her, his hand dropping. Scarlett tore the hem of her long shirt with one quick yank, taking it in her teeth and ripping that in half and wrapping it around her bloody calf and tucking in the end, and then doing the same to her still oozing foot. With a grunt of pain, she pushed her feet into the tennis shoes that were sitting by the door. “It has my girl,” she repeated to Mason, and then Scarlett turned and she ran as fast as her injured foot would carry her, heading for the woods.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Thirteen Years Ago
The guild was on its way. She’d walked by the kitchen and smelled the unmistakable scent of cake baking. Her stomach rolled. Who would have ever guessed that the smell of dessert would trigger her heart to race as a feeling of dread filled her chest?
She forced herself to calm. This was her chance, as there might not be another. She’d gotten lucky their last few visits and hadn’t been chosen, but her luck would eventually run out. Possibly tonight. And though she might have been able to hide her rounded stomach before in the dim lighting while lying on her back, there was no hiding it now.
No, tonight was the night. It had to be.
Kandace walked stoically to her room, Aurora shooting her a worried look as she entered. “The guild is here,” she said, looking pointedly at Kandace’s stomach, still hidden beneath the roomy, square uniform, and the oversized black sweaters they’d been given now that the temperature had dropped.
“I know,” she said. She hadn’t told Aurora about what the guild was doing when they came to “bless” the girls of Lilith House. It was better for Aurora that she didn’t know. But Aurora, friend that she was, worried about someone discovering Kandace’s secret, and the more people who saw her, the more likely one of them would be extra observant.
She walked to Aurora and grasped her hands. “It’s going to be fine. And remember, whatever happens, do not worry.”
Aurora’s gaze held to hers as she searched her eyes for several seconds. Finally, she nodded. I have a plan, she wished she could say. But it’s too dangerous to discuss it.
She squeezed Aurora’s hands and then let them go. She wished she could tell